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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. swing — to play on
  3. can — a tin
  4. land — to come down
  5. hand — in cards
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. hand — help
  8. spring — the season
  9. swing — in golf
  10. wax — to grow
  11. drill — the tool
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. spring — a coil
  14. swing — music
  15. drill — a practice
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. land — ground
  19. can — a tin
  20. can — to be able to
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. land — a country
  23. drill — army training
  24. temple — side of the head

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com